After His Resurrection, Jesus remained on earth to manifest that He had truly risen from the dead and to complete His final instructions to the apostles. Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus and His disciples went to the Mount of Olives. Before taking leave, Jesus promised the disciples that He would not abandon them, but that He would send the Holy Spirit, the breath of God’s own Spirit, to comfort and to guide them. And while blessing them, He ascended into heaven.
The heaven to which the Lord ascended is certainly not the starry sky that we see above us. And it is not the universe’s outer space, but it is the highest heaven, the place of the eternal presence of the Eternal God. The ascending Lord continued His blessing of the disciples until the cloud concealed Him. This all-affirming and all-consecrating blessing of God was forever imprinted in the memory of the disciples. It was then spread around the whole world by the holy apostles and preachers of Christianity.
The ascension affirmed that Jesus had accomplished everything He had come to do. The messianic promise ended with a fulfillment and a new promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ ascension did not end His relationship with the faithful, but rather instituted a new way of living in God’s transcendent presence in the here and now. We continue to receive the grace of His blessing.
Although the Feast of the Ascension commemorates Jesus’ physical departure from earth, it’s not a cause for sadness. When Jesus completed His earthly mission of bringing salvation to all people, He ascended from this world back to heaven. The meaning and the fullness of His resurrection culminated in the ascension. Having completed His mission in this world, Jesus returned to heaven, raising earth to heaven with Him! And that’s why both the Western and the Eastern Church solemnly and joyously celebrate this holy day.
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